Letters: North County, Dec. 16, 2012

I was on my smartphone, having a SmartWater, going in to buy some smart foods, when I had a fantastic idea as I was being bombarded by the solicitation scrum, fighting for position in front of every thriving business.

I’d join them. Why not? Who knows what percentage actually finds its way to the donated cause, if any at all. What check and balance is there to verify legitimacy? Because of my smart products, I realized that all that I had to do was make a sign and get a little box to fill up with money from well-intentioned and generous people.

The best part is that it is all year and continues well after the holidays. See you soon.

James Houlton

Oceanside

Why stop at tax pledge?

Grover Norquist has gotten most of our Republican members of the Congress to pledge to never, ever vote to raise taxes ever.

Perhaps Mr. Norquist should also get Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and Goldman Sachs to promise to never, ever raise their fees they charge their customers. He might also contact our major health care providers to consider not raising their fees for health care.

Anyone thinking my suggestion is looney should write their representative and tell them to remove their name from the pledge list at Mr. Norquist’s office.

Aaron Burstein

San Marcos

Public has a right to know

Are newspapers covering vital economic events like the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), this is a pact among pirates for their exclusive benefit of market manipulation and labor exploitation.

This is accomplished by the creation of an entity that is above the law, and outside the reach of free-market fundamentals and consumer action. Similar to a meeting of Mafia families or a Soviet spy ring, agents from 11 countries are secretly meeting behind closed doors, hoping to silently, once again, establish a dictatorial monopoly of global proportions.

Its existence was revealed through a leak and, as a result, Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced the “21st Century Trade Agreements Act” in an attempt to stop trade agreements that put foreign interests above the law and beyond reproach.

The question then becomes, “Will Republicans agree to put Americas’ interests first?” and “Will the American media make any attempt to inform the public before the TPP puts an end to any notion of fair trade?” If history is any indicator, the 1 percent will strengthen their death grip on the world’s economic infrastructure, much to the dismay of consumers.

Klaus Pfeiffer

Vista

A threat to freedom of conscience

John Terrell’s Dec. 9 letter is a slight-of-hand trick (“Stop wasting time, money of religious crusade”).

He claims that we defenders of freedom of conscience are doing the infringing. Clever! But what he’s actually doing is foolishly supporting President Obama’s unprecedented assault on freedom of religious conscience, which is fundamental to our democracy.

By executive order, Obama insists that thousands of Christian hospitals and schools must provide the means to end unborn lives – in clear violation of Christian conscience – or shut down.

Terrell misinterprets James Madison’s early draft of the First Amendment. Like the other founders, Madison saw Judeo-Christian values as necessary for a democracy. Therefore, he advocated freedom from government collecting taxes to support an established church like the Church of England, and freedom from government interference in the exercise of religion. These rights are exactly what the religious portion of the First Amendment stipulates.

(To view Madison’s draft in its historical context, see the Library of Congress’ official documentary exhibit, “Religion and the Foundation of the American Republic,” www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion.)

Obama’s wielding of federal government power by executive order here undermines the freedom of religious conscience of all Americans – regardless of our specific loyalties and agendas, including Terrell’s. Actually, all freedom of conscience is at risk.

Vista, like 90 percent of California’s cities, wisely prohibits pot shops. Pot shops have taken advantage of medi-pot laws to aggressively advertise pot sales and locations for “pot-docs” who give medi-pot recommendations to 18-year-olds who claim “pain.” We all encounter pain at times, we’re human, but that doesn’t mean we should be giving high school students a recommendation to buy pot at pot shops. Nor should cities allow illegal pot shops to operate to facilitate this abuse.

Our state’s medi-pot laws give limited legal protection to sick people who use pot with a doctor’s recommendation. But, alarmingly, the law doesn’t protect against abuse, and allows young people easy access and use.

In a study published in September’s 2011 Annals of Epidemiology, more teenagers smoke pot in states with medi-pot laws than states without medi-pot laws(www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797(11)00178-5/abstract). And adult pot use and dependence is higher in states with medi-pot laws, according to a published study in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence Journal (www.drugandalcoholdependence.com/article/S0376-8716(11)00274-2/abstract).

San Diego County is a healthier and safer place without illegal retail sales of pot.

Jon Sullivan

Oceanside

Spend education dollars on children

Re: “A ‘loose with the tax dollars’ razz,” Dec. 10: While the gross wage overpayment for the Poway Unified School District’s superintendent is remarkable as a singular example of a school board’s ineptitude, it is symptomatic of an even greater ill: the strenuously denied yet pervasive philosophy within the near- omnipotent California education unions that the real purpose of the education system is to keep adults employed, and generously paid, at the expense of our children’s education and our wallets, their platitudes aside.

This maniacal perspective suffuses all levels of the system. It’s manifested not just by excessive wages, but also by overstaffing of administrators from the University of California chancellor-level down to local elementary district staffs.

This “razz” is a good start, but the North County Times/U-T San Diego should go for a Pulitzer and do a major study of the administrative staffing throughout the state education system. Then, suggest more appropriate staffing and remuneration strategies.

A possibility: The senior administrator of an elementary-high school district should make one dollar more per year than the senior school principal in the district; ditto principal to senior teacher ratio. In the “razz” example, how many more teachers could be hired or retained in Poway with an extra, say, $250,000?

James Strong

Escondido

Stop all foreign aid

Democrats and Republicans alike are desperately attempting to control our nation’s out-of-control spending before the end of the year to avoid tax increases and cuts in deserved benefits to those citizens.

I have an idea for politicians to consider: Immediately stop all foreign aid, without exception. The primary reason this cut will never happen is because the U.S. will no longer look like a bunch of millionaires who love to give money away and the world would soon hate us, and politicians couldn’t stand that.

Along with this, bring our military home immediately to protect us by stationing the National Guard and the Army along all borders in an attempt to curb illegal immigrants from flooding into the U.S.

I imagine a few citizens are aware that 1 million foreign nationals are allowed to enter the U.S. legally and 55,000 more by lottery. How many free dollars are spent in relocation costs? And the kicker on the lottery is after location, they can send for relatives.

Yes, many spending cuts can be made over time to benefit deserving American citizens instead of attempting to save the world as our nation sinks deeper and deeper in a seemingly never-ending debt crisis.

Leon Smith

Oceanside

Obama’s agenda

Equality of opportunity – aah!

But, President Obama’s agenda/objective is equal outcome. Outside of small groups, historically, this has never worked.